Hello everyone! This is my first fanfic in years and English is not my mother tongue so please take it into consideration when you read this. The story is set in season 8 after House got his ankle monitor removed and before Wilson got cancer. It isn't very Huddish at first but I promise you it'll get better, only that this chapters are necessary for the storyline. That said, please read, enjoy and review (:

Lisa Cuddy looked up as she heard a knock in her door.

-"Sorry to bother you Dr. Cuddy but there's this man that keeps insisting in seeing you"-

She wasn't expecting anyone and in fact, she'd been hoping no one appeared in her office that afternoon, as she wanted to finish work before going home for the weekend; otherwise she'll probably spend part of her Saturday reading and signing monthly reports.

-"It's ok, let him in. Who is he by the way?"- She asked as her assistant turned around to leave.

-"Oh, about that, he wouldn't say his name but he said something about knowing you, should I let him in anyway?"-

-"Yes, could you take these, please?"-

She handled her a couple of files and waited for the mysterious man, she couldn't imagine who he was, as very few people knew she was here, in California.
Moments later her doorknob turned after a soft knock. A man in his early forties stepped into the office and closed the door behind him.

-"Hello Cuddy, I know it's been a long time but I really need to talk to you now"-

Cutlery against the dishes.
Talk.
Footsteps.
Silence.
And then shattering glass.
Snapping wood.
Loud bangs as furniture took the impact.
Then came the dust, filling eyes and nostrils. You could taste it. It choked.
And when the haze cleared slightly a car door opening.
A man handling her a hair brush.

Cuddy woke up startled. She looked around and when she finally realized there wasn't any car in her bedroom or clouds of dust around she started to calm down. Finally she noticed the alarm clock was buzzing annoyingly. She put it off and rested her head in her pillow for another minute or so.

She had been having nightmares for the first few months after the incident, then they'd slowly started to fade away. But now they'd returned. It was as if her past refused to leave her alone. Sighing she remembered the day she had ahead and using all her willpower she finally got out of bed.

After getting Rachel and herself ready for the day and dropping the little girl at her school she arrived at the hospital. However her day couldn't have started worse. First of all a psychiatric patient out of control had decided to attack the glass door of one of the offices with a chair, with the obvious result of an injured patient and a destroyed expensive glass. She had barely looked at the disastrous scene when she was called from the E.R to supervise the derivation of patients to the closest hospital as the E.R's capacity was exceeded and they couldn't take care of all the victims of a snow-caused pileup. As she was almost finishing her task a doctor approached her.

-"Hello Dr. Cuddy, have you got a moment?"-

-"Sure"-

Cuddy knew instinctively this couldn't be good news at all.

-"The patient vomited, we gave him meds, but we're still looking for the cause"-

-"Any theories yet?"-

-"His symptoms are still too unspecific, however we already ordered some x-rays and a change in his diet"-

-"I understand, well thank you anyway Dr. Cadwell, please let me know as soon as you've got them back"-

-"You're welcome"-

The doctor turned around and left.

Cuddy knew it'll be better to keep her distance from this case. You can't keep objectivity with certain patients and nightmares was the last thing she wanted to have back in her life. She definitely needed some peace, but that is the last thing you find in an E.R, so she resignedly returned her attention to the bed before her.

-"Who's in charge of patient 53?"

Cuddy sat in front of her desk, her mind filled with small thoughts about everything. She was exhausted, that was the truth. Ever since she'd left Princeton her life had turned into an unstopping whirlwind from which she couldn't see the way out. And like to confirm her thoughts the phone started ringing for the umpteenth time that day.

-"Yes?"-

-"Good afternoon Dr. Cuddy, it's Dr. Cadwell"-

-"Oh, something wrong?"-

-"Well, we got the x-rays checked by Dr. Stone, but they aren't conclusive. He ordered a bronchoscopy and blood tests. His O2 saturation is still low"-

-"I understand, please let me know any news"-

-"Sure"-

Cuddy hung the phone and returned her attention to the papers in her desk. It was going to be a very long week.